Beds with siderails are known. Many of the bed siderail support assemblies facilitate movement of the siderail to and between positions wherein the siderail is stored beneath the patient support deck to a fully deployed position whereat the bed siderail is oriented along side of the patient support deck. However, several of the known bed siderail support assemblies are difficult and cumbersome to operate and it is not immediately intuitive how the release mechanism for the siderail is to function in order to facilitate movement of the bed siderail from a fully deployed position to a retracted and stowed position to facilitate quick access to a person lying on the patient support deck.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a bed siderail support assembly which is intuitively operable to facilitate a quick movement of the bed siderail from a fully deployed position to a fully retracted and stowed position beneath the patient support deck.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a bed siderail support assembly, as aforesaid, with a mechanism for causing the bed siderail to move at a controlled speed from the fully deployed position to a retracted position to minimize the risk of injury caused by a rapid fall of the bed siderail toward the retracted position.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a bed siderail support assembly, as aforesaid, wherein the handle for effecting a release of the siderail when in the fully deployed position is mounted on the siderail and is intuitively operative to facilitate the release of the bed siderail to effect a movement thereof toward the retracted position.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a bed siderail support assembly, as aforesaid, which is sturdy when deployed and is of a durable construction.